Currently | July Edition

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // July 1, 2015 // 24 Comments

Instead of a monthly favorites video, I thought I would shake things up! Anne at In Residence and Jenna from Gold & Bloom host a monthly link up called “Currently” and they always have a list of fun prompts! So I’m joining in! (link up your favorites for the month there too!)

Craving | I cannot get enough fresh fruit right now. Tis the season, right? And right now it’s all about nectarines. I basically have had one (or two) in my hand every single day for the last month. And I suspect that won’t change in July.

Grilling | Confession…. we don’t have a grill. Not even a “use it on your stove top” kind. Does that make us bad Americans? I feel like it’s a summer requirement to grill. And we don’t! But I know I’ve seen recipes for grilling peaches and nectarines, so maybe I should get one.

Listening | Oh my goodness. If you haven’t listened to the Serial podcast from This American Life, you must. We listened to it on our road trip last month and we couldn’t get enough. It’s 10 episodes, with each episode revealing more and more details around this real life murder. There is already a convicted killer, in jail serving a life sentence. But the evidence used in trial just doesn’t really make sense. But yet the convicted killer, then 17 years old, sounds so fishy. You just don’t really know what to think. It’s amazing.

Planning | We ripped out a lot of dead trees in our backyard, which means we have empty space to plant things! So now we’re thinking about what shade loving plants would work that deer won’t eat. #countrylivingproblems But I’m not really a gardening girl, so this is stretching my limits of planning. But I aspire to have something like the picture above.

Decorating | I’m in Gallery Wall mode right now. We have almost zero art on our walls… it’s sad. So now I’m just trying to figure out how to get started. Which means I’ve been reading lots of tips on how to build gallery walls. Do you have one? How did you start? Art first?

What have you been loving this month? Let me know!!

Linking up with Currently

Stitch Fix #3 – Box Reveal & A Service Review

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 30, 2015 // 15 Comments

FYI – this post DOES contain a referral link to Stitch Fix. Meaning if you decided to sign up for Stitch Fix using my referral link, I’ll get a credit in my account. Which is totally awesome! But not expected.

It’s Stitch Fix Box #3 time! If you missed my reviews on box #1 and box #2, check it out! And if you don’t know what Stitch Fix is, let me quickly explain:

You tell a stylist what you like in clothes and accessories. That stylist picks out 5 items they think you would like (or maybe push you out of your comfort zone a little) and sends you a box. You try on the clothes, at home, with your existing wardrobe. Keep and pay for what you want, return what you don’t.

So for Box #3, I basically liked everything that I saw right out of the box. I liked the patterns. I liked the colors. And the mix of stuff was great. I also noticed that, for the first time, everything in the box went together, meaning it was a mini capsule wardrobe! You’ll see in a minute with the outfit photos, but I could get quite a few outfits from the 5 pieces.

However, once I started trying everything on, things didn’t fit. Either it was too small (the pants….) or just the wrong shape (the sweater)… so, spoiler alert – I didn’t keep anything.

BUT I liked the idea of everything. I may steal the ideas and try to find similar pieces on my own.

Here’s what I got!

41Hawthorn – Abrianna Longsleeve Knit Cardigan – $48 – RETURNED

This color is really pretty, and it goes well with things in the box, but it was way too big. I was sent a medium, and if I was buying this in the store, I would have picked up an XS. I was swimming in this.

Brixon Ivy – Kessie Faux Wrap Dress – $64 – RETURNED

If this fit properly, I would have absolutely kept it. I loved the pattern and color on me, and you can’t go wrong with a wrap dress for easy dressing up or down!

Olive & Oak – Bunbury Sweater – $58 – RETURNED

I liked the idea of this top, but it was just too boxy. It didn’t suit me….

Collective Concepts – Tori Scoop Neck Blouse – $54 – RETURNED

I LOVED this pattern and top right out of the gate the minute I opened the box. I even snapped a pic for Instagram.

I couldn’t wait to try it on. But the shape just wasn’t right on me. Too blousy/boxy but short in length.

Mavi – Mylee Tulip Hem Skinny Jean – $98 – RETURNED

I basically need to write in my profile to not send me pants… I feel like pants are SO hard to pick out for someone else, hoping they will fit. I liked the idea of the pants, but couldn’t get them up past my knees. (Exaggeration, but that’s what it felt like)

But, even though I didn’t keep anything, look how well everything coordinated together! These are just a few outfit ideas, but I could have kept going!

REVIEW TIME!

Since I’ve had three boxes so far, I thought it would be appropriate to do a review thus far of the service! In general, I love the idea! It’s such a neat service, especially if you have small children.

Some reviews I’ve read get hung up on the high price for the quality. It doesn’t bother me much, because I expect to pay a little more for the convenience of the service.

However, I don’t think I’ll continue Stitch Fix. At least not for a while. Maybe I just have a weird body, but so far almost none of the clothes I have received fit right. Either its too small or too big. Or it’s too slouchy. It seems that my time is better spent shopping on my own and trying things on, then wasting a stylist’s time.

Overall, I think in order to make Stitch Fix really be effective for you, you must be dedicated to updating your profile with likes/dislikes, offering feedback to the stylist, and even keeping your Pinterest board up to date with appropriate comments. And really, I don’t have time for that!

What do you think? Have you tried Stitch Fix before? Am I totally off the mark? Let me know!

Menu Monday #49

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 29, 2015 // 4 Comments

Hey hey! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

We finally got some cooler weather around here, so our weekend was spent outside as much as possible. Can’t complain about that!

This week’s menu has a few favs, including my Tomato Pesto Pasta. I’m not a huge fan of basil pesto, but love this version! Especially when you have a lot of tomatoes lying around the house. We’ll also be eating our latest sandwich obsession which I talked about last week – Spicy Black Bean burgers with guacamole and pepper jack cheese. So yummy!

For more information on how I menu plan, look at this.

Monday:
Tomato Pesto Pasta

Tuesday:
Vegetarian Meatballs
(because turning on the oven right now seems like a fabulous idea…)

Wednesday:
Spicy Black Bean burgers with Guacamole & Pepper Jack Cheese

Thursday:
Kale, Black Bean & Avocado Burrito Bowl
(From CookieandKate.com)

Friday:
Taco Salad

Saturday:
Leftovers

Sunday:
Mexican Pizza with Salsa Roja & Cilantro Pesto
(From Fields of Greens)

Need more ideas for dinner?
Follow my Pinterest board – it’s where I save all of my dinner ideas!

Follow Katie | Cup of Tea Blog's board Good Eats | Dinner on Pinterest.

Linking up at Menu Monday with Org Junkie

High Five for Friday #25

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 26, 2015 // 26 Comments

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by Katie, Caitlin, Tif and Della! If you want to know more, read about it here! According to WordPress, this is our 25th week of hosting H54F! How exciting! Thank you all so much for being with us and just being all around awesome bloggers! I’ve so enjoyed getting to know you all better.

Hope your week was just dandy! On to what we were up to this week!

1. The. Weather. I know I’ve mentioned a million times that I dislike the heat, but this week just seemed particularly unbearable. We finally got some rain and a cool down yesterday, but still. Mother Nature – can you back off a little, please??

2. We had some serious backyard work done earlier this week. We have a pretty heavily wooded backyard, but you can’t really see it well because of a line of privacy trees right up against our back lawn. Several of those trees died, so we did some removal. What a difference! We lost trees up close, but now we can really see the woods in the back! It’s great. We’re already planning a little landscaping to tie it all together.

3. Speaking of landscaping – since we were in a yard mood, Elizabeth and I went to our local garden center and brought home some flowers to plant! We planted some Wednesday (forgot to snap a pic!) and have a few more containers to finish today. I’ll try to remember to pop a pic on Instagram!

4. For the last few weeks I’ve been heading out on massive morning walks with a friend. We push our strollers around and chat. Apparently, thanks to her Fitbit, we walk about 5 miles each time! That’s what gabbing will do! So it’s been really nice. I may be completely melted by the time I get home, but it’s been a nice change to the routine.

5. It’s been a pretty rough week emotionally. I’m not one to get all sentimental, but as I’ve gotten older, it’s hard to make friends, to only have to say goodbye later on. Especially in this world of medicine. First College, then Med School, then end of residency, and NOW end of fellowship…. We had to say goodbye to several precious friends this week, and good golly – my heart is sad. But, as my husband says, all this scattering of friends means that no matter where we travel for vacation, there will always be someone to visit!

Oh, sorry to end on such a sad note….. to make up for it, here are a few pics from Father’s Day!

Fellow bloggers – ready to join in the link up? Just write a blog post about 5 things that made this week awesome! Add your link to your blog post down below (make sure it’s your blog post, not your blog home page!). And then grab the H54F button to add to your post! And go visit at least 3 fellow link uppers AND this week’s featured blogger! It’s just the nice thing to do.

I’m also linking up with Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre, 5 on Friday & Diary of a Real Housewife

Cup of Tea Chat | A Touch of the Random #2

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // June 24, 2015 // 16 Comments

About a month ago I wrote a pretty random post about nothing… and we all had such a good time laughing about it, I thought it should be a regular thing!

(But does that really make it random?? Probably not…. but who cares!)

I binged watched the BEST reality TV show for nerds/geeks – The Quest. Just watch this trailer and tell me it’s not awesome. It was gloriously cheesy, entertaining, and addicting. Shoot! One of the challenges included getting dragon’s tears from a hag. #geekout. It’s on Netflix now. You’re welcome. Did anyone watch it when it originally aired last year?

Speaking of random things to watch, I’ve ALSO binge watched a ton of the Holderness family on YouTube. (You may remember them from a Christmas Jammies song a few years ago?) Anyway, for Mother’s Day they were doing a whole series of the Dad trying to do things Mom does – ex. blowouts and giving birth. But I found this Pure Barre episode hilarious!!

I’ve decided I’m not the only one that hides indoors from the heat. All the outdoor creepy crawlies come in to the house in the summer too. Gross!

Moms – you know how you just hope those Daniel Tiger ditties are rubbing off on your kids and teaching them awesome lessons? Well…. I may have sung “Take a deep breath, and count to 4” to myself several times this week. That show knows no barriers.

I just noticed that my husband and I have duplicate books from college. We took a lot of the same classes, and didn’t realize then that we’d eventually be sharing a bookshelf. If we did have that kind of hindsight, we would have saved a lot of money on book fees. We need a bookshelf cleanse!

A few weeks ago I changed my Instagram user name from kt_cupofteablog to ktcupoftea. You know – consistency of branding across all platforms. Very “marketing” of me. Although I kind of liked having “blog” as part of my user name to alert people I know in real life that you are about to follow Katie the Blog…. I still have a small panic attack when people I know IRL follow my blog IG or let me know they read the blog. Why? I don’t know… they’d just better not be laughing at me behind my back (or blog)!

If you could have an Etsy shop and sell anything you want, what would you sell? I am just fascinated by the stuff you can find on Etsy! My current obsession are these adorable watercolors of family portraits from Ink and Bobbin

Where is everyone going on summer vacation? Are you taking one? Anywhere you WISH you were going?

Who can still log in to their Myspace account? I tried to do this a few weeks ago. I either can’t remember my password OR I just decided enough was enough and deleted the account entirely when I moved over to Facebook back in the ol’ 2005 (or 2006?). I wish Katie of 2005 wasn’t so impulsive…

So thoughts? Anything random you would like to share? Don’t leave me hanging!

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